MARI WEB WORKSPACE

MITIGATION AND ADAPTATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE (MARI)

MARI STAKEHOLDLER SURVEY SUMMARY REPORT

In support of the development of the Mitigation and Adaptation Research Institute, MARI, the proposal writing team developed a survey to elicit stakeholder comment. The survey was conducted using the internet-based survey tool, Qualtrics, hosted by Old Dominion University and was available from February 26 to March 21, 2014

The invitation to take the survey was distributed to approximately 550 stakeholders who were identified through their participation in previous climate change adaptation events, local government contacts and email lists. Recipients were asked to invite interested colleagues or other contacts to participate in the survey by forwarding the solicitation email. One hundred and eleven responses were received. Most people spent approximately seven minutes on the survey.

About a quarter of the respondents were from academia and a third were from federal, state or local government. About 15 percent were from for profit businesses, while 19 percent were from a non-governmental organization. The respondents were active in many different governance activities, most prominently policy, planning, research and education. The stakeholders who responded were generally knowledgeable about climate change and sea level rise mitigation and adaptation (see Figure 1).

Key findings:

• A majority of stakeholders responding believe climate change and sea level rise are very urgent or extremely urgent issues (Figure 2).
• Stakeholders agree or strongly agree that flooding, physical infrastructure, emergency management, preparedness and regional coordination should be addressed by MARI (Figure 3).
• Most respondents had some familiarity with CCSLRI (Figure 4) and were satisfied with the work that has been done so far (Figure 5). About 2/3 of respondents expected to be involved with MARI, while another 1/3 was unsure about their level of future involvement (Figure 6).
• Stakeholder opinions about MARI' research plan and the level of its relevance for them are generally positive (Figure 7).
• Stakeholder opinions about MARI' education and outreach plans are also generally positive, although some improvements of the outreach plan are proposed (Figure 8).
• The usefulness of MARI is rated high or very high, with only a few stakeholders being unsure about this (Figure 9).
• The potential for partnerships appears to be high (Figure 10).
• Most stakeholders would consider to support MARI financially and less than 20% of the respondents indicated that they would not consider to provide support (Figure 11).

The findings of the stakeholder survey will be used to shape the plan of MARI going forward.